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Regular season volleyball play ended this week for Rock County rivals Luverne and Hills-Beaver Creek when the teams met in Hills Thursday night, Oct. 21.
The Cardinals took the Patriots in three sets, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-13.
The Patriots opened the match with a strong attack by Lanae Elbers in the front row and a tip over the Cardinal blockers by Tess VanMaanen to tie the score 5-5.
The Cardinals responded with a tip kill by Elise Ferrell and an overpass kill by Anja Jarchow to put Luverne ahead 7-5.
In back-to-back plays, Macy Stratton passed the ball to Trista Baustian to set up Ferrell for attacks to extend the lead to 10-6. An ace serve by Kenadie Fick kept the Patriots close 15-12. Christina Wagner contributed 3 blocks to stretch the lead to 20-16 for the Cardinals.
With a pass by Ferrell, set by Baustian and attack by Kamryn VanBatavia, the Cards gave themselves an advantage for a win at 22-17. Morgan Ahrendt contributed two kills in the final points of the set to help Luverne take Set 1 at 25-17.
After a series of blocks at the net, VanBatavia passed the ball to Reghan Bork who tipped it over for a 4-3 lead in Set 2.
A pass by Danette Leenders, set by VanMaanen and kill by Fick would tie the score 5-5.
A series of Cardinal attacks stretched their lead to 10-7, and Baustian strung together six serves to extend the Cardinal lead to 19-11.
Two ace serves by H-BC’s Tara Paulsen inched the Patriots closer, 21-15. Another ace serve by VanMaanen added to the Patriots’ score 22-18.
Elbers added two final kills to keep the Patriots alive 24-20.
But after an LHS kill by Ferrell and a duo block by Ferrell and Jarchow, Wagner placed a perfect kill on the Patriots side from a Stratton pass and Bork set to take Set 2 at 25-20.
Elbers started out strong for the Patriots in the front row again in the third set. She had two kills to tie the score at 1-1 and 4-4.
Luverne’s Jarchow proved to be the hot hitter in Set 3, knocking out three kills in a row for the Cardinals to put the squad ahead 7-6.
A pass from H-BC’s Danette Leenderts to setter VanMaanen would set Leeanna Gaugler up for a Patriot kill to tie again at 7-7.
Luverne’s Ferrell repeated the exercise with sets from Bork to extend the lead to 14-10. Aces from Ferrell and Baustian gave the Cardinals the momentum they needed to force a Patriots timeout at 23-13.
A tandem block from Elizabeth Wagner and Christina Wagner finished Set 3 at 25-13 in favor of the Cardinals to attain a 3-0 win.
The 17-6 Cardinals are seeded second in the Section 3AA South tournament, which is set to begin on Friday.
Coach Sarah DeBeer noted her team is well-positioned for playoffs, thanks to the addition of a fourth class of volleyball in Minnesota in the 2021 season.
Luverne remains in class AA, while rivals Marshall and Worthington move up to class AAA.
Luverne will start playoff competition at 7 p.m. Friday in Luverne against fellow Cardinals from Fairmont, whom they have not yet faced this season.
The H-BC Lady Patriots will begin playoffs Monday night against Southwest Christian in Edgerton.
LHS statistics:
Digs: Stratton – 4, Ferrell – 2. Blocks: Jarchow - 2 solo, 3 assists; C. Wagner – 4 solo, 4 assists. Kills: Ferrell – 12; Jarchow – 7
Set assists: Baustian – 16; Bork – 13
Serves: Baustian – 2 aces, 100% serve percentage; Bork 2 aces, 100% serve percentage
H-BC statistics:
Serves: Tess VanMaanen 10/10 with one ace serve, Tara Paulsen 9/9 with 2 ace serves
Attacks: Lanae Elbers 12 kills, Kenadie Fick 6 kills,Taylor Durst 4 kills
Set assists: Tess VanMaanen 15